More than a thousand people — some Jewish, some not — gathered in a Beverly Hills synagogue Tuesday night with several purposes: to mourn, to remember and to come together for strength.

The memorial was held at the Beth Jacob Congregation in honor of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped and killed while hitchhiking home from school last month. Their bodies were found in a West Bank field Monday, 18 days after the teens went missing, and they were buried the following day.

“As we grieve, we must remember: We are people of light, people of hope,” said Israeli Consul General David Siegel.

Behind Siegel, photographs of the victims — 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel, 16-year-old Eyal Yifrah and 19-year-old Gil-Ad Shaer — were both printed and projected on a screen. Three lighted candles, one for each victim, rested on a table.

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